State Journal

Silver Lining

By their own admission, Michigan testing officials goofed last year
in their handling of possible cheating. Now, though, the goof has
turned into something good.

At least that's the view of the state officials, who attribute a
steep drop in the number of tests flagged for "irregularities" this
year to last year's highly publicized mess and its aftermath. Of spring
2001's batch of Michigan Educational Assessment Program exams, 484 came
back from graders with possible cheating "alerts."

This year, the number is 44.

"We believe that the dramatic drop in the number of test alerts is
the result of last year's report" that followed the inadvertent release
of the names of 71 schools that were under suspicion for "inappropriate
test administration practices," said Terry Stanton, the spokesman for
the Michigan Department of Treasury, which oversees the state exams.
The report "helped [schools] develop a deeper understanding and
awareness" of what is out of bounds, he said.

But local school administrators are less thrilled by the test-alert
drop. They remember the sting of being identified as a possible
cheater—without being offered the chance to explain.

The treasury department's procedure was, and still is, to present
seeming irregularities to local officials for explanation before
deciding if cheating took place. Last year, though, the list got out
before state officials could take that step.

The outcry among superintendents and principals was so great that
state lawmakers called a joint meeting of the legislature's education
committees.

In the end, just 20 of 71 schools were found to have done something
wrong, and even those escaped punishment—which could have
included zeroing out whole groups of tests.

This year, fewer than a half-dozen schools will be cited for
cheating, Mr. Stanton said.